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Hi'
I have a 1980 Chevy Luv 2WD with a standard transmission that I just purchased from Oregon and had trucked to Massachusettes. This truck came with a 1.8LIsuzu motor that has a bad wrist pin in the #1 cylinder. It doesn't seem to have done too much damage as far as scoring goes. Are the parts available to overhaul this thing? Wrist pin, gaskets, ect.? If so where can I find them? Truck only has 23K original miles and has had only 1 owner. It is very clean and worth saving for sure. If not are there any other motors that will bolt right up with no mods.? 4 banger, straight 6, rotory, anything readily available?

that is a good deal and welcome

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Your right my bad it is isuzu sorry got the two mixed up. I fixed the posting. Thanks

There is several ways you can go by using all Isuzu parts:

You can buy a rebuild kit from a local auto parts store or on ebay and rebuild it yourself. (Not my personal choice BTW.)

You can find another 1.8 G180 out of a Luv, Imark , or a Pup and just put that in. It's by far the simplest, often times cheapest and easiest solution - and everything will bolt right up just like it does now.

You can upgrade to a 1.9 G200 out of a newer Pup or a factory hp 1.9 G200z from an Impulse that comes stock with taller pistons and stiffer valve springs and a slightly larger cam - and either one will bolt right in. Neither 1.9 version has the air injection nozzles built in to the head that the 1.8 does though - so that will have to be worked out if you have to use all of your stock smog stuff.

But installing your old 1.8 G180 head on a 1.9 G200 block will also boost up your compression a bit and look just like a stock setup. Just don't try to use too big of a high performance cam when installing a 1.8 G180 head on the Impulse 1.9 G200z engine or you will have serious major valve-to-piston clearance problems due to it's taller flat-top pistons. And you will probably need to run premium gas in it to keep it from pinging like crazy under a load.

(But IMHO - it sure is worth it for the increased hp/torque you get.)

You can use a newer 2.6 (which is another Isuzu 4 cylinder engine BTW) with an older 2.3 carb intake/distributor/ignition and it will pretty much bolt right in. (As far as how hard the ignition/distributor is to wire up - I'm in the process of figuring all of that out to do this to my truck.)

With either of those combinations, you can bolt a newer Isuzu 5 speed right in and still use your stock rear-end, or switch to a newer heavier Pup rear-end that will easily bolt in without too much fuss too.

Swapping out the 4speed for a 5speed is pretty simple, but you will need the front yoke from the truck you got the 5speed from's driveline because the spline count on the tail of the 4speed and the 5speed are different.

Swapping the rear-end for a newer one just requires you to use your old stock leaf springs (to get the wheels to line up correctly in the center of the rear wheel wells) and to relocate the little tab/bracket that the rear brake line junction box bolts to. And then you will also need the rear yoke from the donor truck's driveline too. The u-joints, size, and length for both drivelines are both identical - but the bolt pattern for the yoke connection on the newer rear-end has a different bolt hole spacing than the stock one.

Then add a cam, a header, an optional 50 amp alternator, an electronic distributor/ignition module, etc. - and you will have a light and pretty fast 4-banger truck that still gets reasonably good gas mileage.

You can check these threads out for more info too (and do a search for even more):


http://forums.luvtruck.com/viewtopic.php?t=12797&highlight=impulse
http://forums.luvtruck.com/viewtopic.php?t=10702
http://forums.luvtruck.com/viewtopic.php?t=14408&highlight=isuzu

I hope all this helps ya...good luck with your truck!

you need to show us some pictures of this unmolested 23,000 mile luv. with that few miles I would try to keep it stock.
Welcome to the site

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Wow! You really know your stuff. That info is priceless. Ok so I think I know what I wanna do. Let me know what you think. I will get a rebuilt 1983 Isuzu Impulse 1.9l (G200) and use my 1.8l head. So do I have to use a different cam, or can I run the stock one? Is there any other modifications that will have to be made or will this setup go right togther? It's either the 1.9l w/ the 1.8l head or I can get a rebuilt 1.8l(G180) for right around the same money. Is the 1.8l a real dog compared to the 1.9l?

The stock cam in the Impulse 1.9 is a little bit bigger than the stock 1.8 or the stock 1.9 Pup engine's is and Delta Cams knows exactly what size cam will work without worrying about any clearance problems. If you send them a core, they will re-grind it to fit perfectly, once you explain to them what you are going to use for an engine/head combination.

Everything should bolt together fine as long as you put the 1.8's oil pan on the Impulse 1.9 engine block so it will fit into your truck. Plugging off the air injector holes in the G180 head is real easy too. Just remove the injection nozzles from the head, cut off the tubing next to the nozzles and remove them, thread the center of the nozzles, plug the nozzles with brass plugs or grade 8 allen screws with soft brass or aluminum washers to seal them, and then put them back into the 1.8 G180 head.

And make sure you get the non-turboed Impulse engine because the turboed Impulse engine isn't a G series engine and it won't work for you. My best guess is that the only problem you might run into with this whole process is making sure your battery and starter is strong enough to crank the high-compresion little 4-banger engine over...lol

The stock 1.8 put out around 65-75 hp and the stock Impulse 1.9 is closer to 90-100 hp. And some people have bought a 1.9 G200 that was supposedly a rebuilt Impulse engine only to find out later that it was the stock 1.9 from a Pup - so be careful you don't get the wrong one. Both will fit in your truck - but there is a big difference.

Then all you have to do is add a slightly beefier cam, an electronic distributor/ignition module that can be salvaged from an 80-83 Impulse , I-Mark, Pup, or Luv (and is a simple 2-wire install), add a 50 amp alternator that was made for any '75-'82 Luv with stock air conditioning and costs the same as the stock 35 amp one (which just requires a heavier guage wire and fuse combination to be installed between the alternator and the battery), add a higher output Accel coil (that you can get from any auto parts store for around $35.00), and add a Pacesetter header (that you can get on ebay for around $150.00), and you will have a great running potent little high-compression 4-banger truck with plenty of hp/torque. Will it pass smog? Who knows? Who cares?

http://car-part.com/ is a great source for used parts and they have good reliable cheap used Impulse 1.9 engines on there if you want to save a few bucks. That's where I got mine for $300.00 and it runs just fine.

http://www.deltacam.com/ is located in Tacoma, WA and their shop is a great place to get your cam re-ground. A lot of folks here have been running their cams in 4-bangers for a long time with no problems, and they get your cam done and back to you quickly for usually under $75.00, plus they have a lot of experience with re-doing cams for all of the G series engines.

Good luck and let us all know how it all works out for ya!

Thanks man you just saved me so much time and effort. I will go with the 1.9l with the reground cam. I just got off the phone with a guy that has already done the conversion once and he said he'd do it all for me at cost $1100 for the completly rebuilt motor and $100 for the machine work. He's even gonna give me a hand putting it in. I'll let you know how I make out. Thanks again.

No problem...no thanks necessary. Glad I could help ya.

I'm just passing on to you what I've learned from all of the other great members here while I was building my truck.

I'm actually one of the dumber guys here...but I do catch on slow.

hey man i tohught id throw this in um the odometer only goes to 99999 and spins to 00000 so id say your luv mostlikly has 122000 miles on it or more
but then again i could be wrong
welcome to the site

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I'll have some pics in a few weeks after the motor install and you can be the judge.

o no i wasnt try to be an ass about it or anything i was jsut saying everybody that looks at my car goes olny 53000 miles!and then i have to explain it to them but hey good lucky with the LUV

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Wouldn't think a wrist pin would be bad with only 23,000. Does it clatter all the time or just when you let up on the gas. Most of the time a wrist pin will only rattle when you let up on the gas on the highway or higher rpm;s and dropping down

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